California’s latest “victory” in progressive policymaking is now measurable in lost jobs.
The state’s $20 fast-food minimum wage law has reportedly cost nearly 18,000 jobs, according to a study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research earlier this month.
Researchers Jeffrey Clemens, Olivia Edwards, and Jonathan Meer found that fast food jobs in California dropped 3.2 percent after AB 1228 went into effect in April.
“Our median estimate translates into a loss of 18,000 jobs in California’s fast-food sector relative to the counterfactual,” they wrote.
So much for helping low-income workers.
The law, passed in September 2023 and signed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, created a so-called “Fast Food Council.”
That council was tasked with setting minimum wages and workplace standards for the fast-food sector, as Fox Business noted in its in-depth analysis of the study.
“The hourly minimum wage for fast food restaurant employees shall be twenty dollars ($20) per hour, effective April 1, 2024,” the bill read.
By contrast, fast-food employment grew slightly across the rest of the country.
The researchers noted that fast food jobs in other states rose by 0.10 percent.
Before the law, California’s fast-food employment was on par with the national trend.
But California is nothing if not consistent — as in consistently inefficient, consistently ideological, and consistently broke.
From a rail line to nowhere, to fire hydrants with no water in the middle of wildfire season, to endless handouts for illegal immigrants, California’s government finds ways to fail.
Now, Gavin Newsom has managed to make fast food even worse, while also making it more expensive.
In April, I ordered Wendy’s in Hollywood. The kid behind the counter looked annoyed that I was interrupting his phone time.
This is the result of a $20 wage hike?
The Wall Street Journal editorial board said Monday that the policy represents “magical thinking,” as Fox Business pointed out.
Rachel Greszler of The Heritage Foundation agreed.
“Wage controls never work,” she wrote for The Daily Signal. “Policymakers can set wage laws, but they can’t outlaw the consequences.”
She added a warning: “The consequences of that wage hike on the fast-food industry should be a warning sign” for the city of Los Angeles in particular, after it recently voted to increase the minimum wage for hotel and airport workers to $30 by 2028.
Newsom’s office fired back, claiming the study was flawed and biased.
But the numbers don’t lie, as thousands who were employed in California’s food industry last year are not employed in that same sector this year, thanks to state lawmakers whose stated goal was to make them more money.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
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